This invention relates to partition systems for dividing large rooms, office spaces, or the like into smaller areas with movable, portable panels or partitions and, more particularly, to a system of connecting such partitions or panels while including brackets or other elements for supporting shelves or other work surfaces in conjunction with such panels and partitions.
Many systems are available for joining and supporting movable partitions and panels in various arrangements to subdivide large areas or rooms into smaller work areas or the like. One such system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,002 issued May 20, 1975, to Charles F. Logie and assigned to American Store Equipment Corporation, the same assignee as the present invention. In the system of U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,002, movable partitions or panels are joined together by one or more connecting pins extending between end or side surfaces of the panels, the connecting pins being secured in place by threaded fasteners inserted through the sides of the panels. A particular feature of that system is the inclusion of tapered heads on such fasteners which mate with tapered countersunk areas in the apertures in the panels through which the fasteners are received for wedging the joined panels tightly together.
In certain applications of prior partition and panel systems, and especially that disclosed in the above-described U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,002, it has been desired to include shelving, work panels, or other work surfaces along the generally vertical sides of such panels or partitions. However, the provision of protruding flanges or supports, apertures, recesses, or other supporting mechanisms extending from or into the actual side surfaces of the panels themselves has been undesirable both because such additional structure can weaken the structural integrity of the panels and because it detracts from the aesthetic qualities of the panels. When no shelving is desired, such structure has been difficult to conceal. Moreover, supporting such shelving or work surfaces from free edges of the panels, or from intermediate edges of the panels which are abutting and adjacent one another when the system is assembled, has been inconvenient because of the difficulty in suspending such shelving entirely from top or bottom free edges or because of disruption of the normal panel joinder apparatus intermediate the panels. Many partitions are manufactured with slotted standards incorporated at each end of the panel as standard features. Shelves are suspended on the slotted standards. When no shelves are desired, however, the slotted standards represent a fairly substantial and unwanted built-in expense.
Accordingly, the provision of adequate shelf or other work surface supporting apparatus in partition and panel systems such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,002 has been a significant problem. The present invention provides a solution to that problem and includes apparatus for both connecting partition panels to like panels or wall or other surfaces, as well as apparatus for supporting shelving and other work surfaces along such partition panels.